Identity Theft Facts and Myths

Recently I was a networking meeting where a guest was selling identity theft insurance. “You can lose your business in less than 30 minutes” she said. “Is that true?” asked a couple of the business owners sitting at the table with me. No.

Let’s delve into Identity Theft Facts and Myths.

Identity Theft Facts and Myths

Identity Theft Protection

ID Theft Protection is an insurance product bundled with some software for individuals not businesses. Getting ID theft protection will not protect your business.

What is the bundled software? A password manager and antivirus and VPN. You should be using a password manager anyway.

The ID theft protection folks make much of their “dark web monitoring” for password leaks. Good password managers, like 1Password, already provide this feature.

What about the antivirus? It’s the consumer version of the software not the business version. For cyberinsurance for your business, you need business antivirus with MDR (managed detection and response).

What about the VPN? It encrypts your data going from your computer via the internet to your service provider (example Google Mail). Some business antivirus comes with VPN software and most business class routers do. Just a reminder that VPN only encrypts data, a VPN does not protect your from viruses, infostealers and business email compromise (BEC).

What else does ID Theft insurance offer?

ID Theft insurance comes with identity restoration specialists, credit monitoring and loss insurance.

If you’re already paying for a password manager, antivirus and VPN do you want to pay for identity theft insurance on top of that?

Cheaper to avoid ID theft

It’s cheaper to avoid ID theft.

Quick tips to avoid id theft:

  • Use a password manager
  • Enforce Multi Factor authentication on accounts
  • Regularly run updates on ALL your devices
  • Install antivirus and antimalware software.
Multi Factor Authentication protection

What about the 30 minutes to lose your business?

While AI has accelerated the speed of hacking, there’s no firm number of minutes to being hacked. Following the quick tips above will make hackers quickly move on to easier targets.

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